ITV has been accused of ‘censoring’ tennis legend Martina Navratilova for referring to Algerian boxing champion Imane Khelif as male rather than female, according to reports.
Khelif was at the centre of a bitter storm during last year’s Olympics, with controversy over the 25-year-old and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting’s participation at the Games.
Both boxers had been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships run by the International Boxing Association (IBA), the former governing body for the sport.
World Boxing, who are now the governing body for the sport, announced on last week that it will introduce mandatory sex testing for male and female boxers who want to take part in competitions, naming Khelif as a fighter who would need to undergo testing before taking part in this month’s Eindhoven Box Cup.
Covering the decision to name Khelif as part of their announcement, ITV shared an article headlined ‘Naming Imane Khelif has caused “immeasurable psychological damage”‘ on the subject to social media site X, which was commented on by Navratilova.
As per Telegraph Sport, the former tennis professional wrote under the original post: ‘But a male beating the crap out of women is not too bad, apparently’.
Imane Khelif is at the centre of a new controversy after a leaked blood test purportedly from the boxer claimed to reveal an XY chromosome pair.
The Algerian star claimed gold at the Olympic Games in Paris amid a swirl of reports that she had allegedly failed a previous gender eligibility test
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova was reportedly ‘censored’ for sharing her views on Khelif
This comment, among others, was marked as ‘hidden’ by ITV news, meaning that users had to click through to view the post.
It is thought to have been reinstated after user complaints, but dozens of other comments referring to Khelif’s gender as male remain hidden under the tweet.
Via the outlet, Fiona McAnena, the director of campaigns at the women’s rights charity Sex Matters, called for an apology from the broadcaster.
‘It’s shocking that the UK’s largest commercial broadcast network has censored hundreds of gender-critical comments on social media, many of them simply referring to Imane Khelif as male,’ McAnena said.
‘Hiding a simple truth about a major news story is a remarkable failure by a journalistic organisation.
‘It’s scandalous that ITV hid a reply from tennis legend Martina Navratilova, which they reinstated after an outcry. But what of the hundreds of other replies that remain censored, some of which do nothing but quote JK Rowling about the boxing row?
‘ITV cannot simply dismiss this as a social media storm. Unless ITV’s leadership apologises for hiding factual comments from the public, it will damage its credibility as a respected news organisation.’
An ITV source has claimed that the broadcaster uses an automated moderation system, and ITV has separately denied that Navratilova’s comment was hidden deliberately.
Navratilova’s post under the original social media link was reportedly hidden before being reinstated after criticism
The fighter has spoken out about the impact queries into her gender have affected her
During the Games, then-IOC president Thomas Bach doubled down in his support of Khelif
Khelif will keep her Olympic gold despite repeated calls for her to be stripped of the honour
Navratilova has previously been an outspoken critic of Khelif and the policies that she believes have allowed her to compete in women’s sports unlawfully.
Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 World Championships by the International Boxing Association – the previous world governing body – for allegedly failing elgibility tests.
An report on the medical test allegedly seen by 3 Wire Sports said that ‘chromsome analysis reveals male karotype’ – an XY chromosome pair.
Khelif was deemed eligible to compete in France despite World Boxing having more than a year’s previous knowledge about the test, with IOC president Thomas Bach previously questioning the test’s legitimacy.
The cases of Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting caused much debate before, during, and after their run to Olympic gold medals.
‘This is not a transgender case, this is about a woman taking part in a women’s competition,’ IOC president Thomas Bach said in a corrected statement at the time.
Khelif’s father produced an alleged birth certificate during the Olympics which recorded the boxer as female.
World Boxing have since apologised for naming Khelif in their statement discussing their new gender testing policy, with Algerian boxing officials stressing that doing so had taken away Khelif’s ‘right to defend herself’.
Khelif is now set to skip the Eindhoven Box Cup this month after missing the registration deadline.
